1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dental distractor devices, and particularly to a mandibular distractor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Distraction osteogenesis is a process of lengthening bone in a gradual manner by distracting or separating one surgically sectioned bony part from an adjacent surgically sectioned bony part with the use of a distractor device. The distraction is typically performed in small daily increments, and generally results in the formation of new bone between the separated bony parts. The procedure is used to lengthen short bones or generate new bone in a defected or deficient bony site without the need for a bone graft.
A unilateral distraction device is generally used for distraction procedures. The unilateral device includes two separate distractors, one for each side of the mandible. Once positioned in each mandible, a portion of each distractor extends out of the patient's cheek. Subsequently, each unilateral distraction device has to be activated separately each day. The exposure of the activation bar at each side of the patient's cheek can cause discomfort and/or annoyance to the user. Further, two separate distractors involves longer surgical time and more surgical armamentarium costs.
Rabbits are typically used for experimental testing in distraction osteogenesis studies. While unilateral distraction devices (including two separate distractors) are typically used for such experiments, it is particularly difficult to affix such a distractor device directly to the lower border of a rabbit's mandible due to the divergence of the rabbit's mandible starting from the apices of the central incisors backwards, the limited thickness of the rabbit's mandible at the lower border, and the differences in the sizes of the rabbit's mandible upon variable weight and age. The divergence of the rabbit's mandible tends to restrict the possibility of affixing screws directly through the body of the distractor to the edge of the lower border of the rabbit's mandible since the screws may pass either medial or lateral to the surface of the body of the mandible which can lead to an unstable distractor.
Thus, a mandibular distractor device solving the aforementioned problems is desired.